The Island School — page 56: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

poi ake nat re) 7 ‘ ere ry 4 uEDNIGHT ‘EXPEDITION. a ~ ication. aang bo the opinion ‘that he had been Be ng victimised by the boys. Romeo’s mind turned to fe ee _ spirits. He was a firm, unswerving believer 1 in ghosts. es _ He was also very superstitious about little things, i’ js a and he was sure that he had raised some spectre by the doing of something wrong. It was this sense of being guilty of a crime against ee ce - the spectres generally that exercised his mind, and | had much to do with his lying awake. . He slept near the door, being put there by His - elders as the most uncomfortable part of the room. The door did not accurately fit, and there was always a draught round his head, which most people would have considered eminently uncomfortable. — As a rule, Romeo was impervious to such minor | ils, but that night it worried him. a The whirr of the air became the whispering of es. spirits, and when the sound rose to a faint moan he ie raised the sound to the dignity of a groan of anguish, illustrative of a threatened violent end for somebody, most likely for himself. ee _ But suddenly another sound fell upon his ear % ; ‘that fairly straightened out half the wool upon his head. It was that of soft footsteps on the stairs, and | a through the _erack created by the ill-fitting of the ae - door there came a gleam by light. | . Now Romeo, for all his terror, had sufficient wit, | remaining to know that ghosts do not, as a rule, carry - e lighted lamps or candles about with them. It was _ therefore no spirit about the house at ving a hour. td Slipping out of bad) he a his eye to the crack, and saw Jim Gordon and Morse coming downstairs. “Gorysmash!” he muttered, “what dem young ri sinners up to at dis time ?” . Romeo was curious by nature. He was a born in- fy vestigator of other people’s business. Given the oppor- Betty of prying into affairs that did not concern _ him, and he could not resist it. iy He rolled out of bed, and his apparel being of the * Eritlest he soon put on sufficient for him to get about in With a pair of trousers and shirt he was pre- Uae to travel through the world until he came to a - more chilly clime. _ With naked feet he slipped out of the room, and was in time to see the boys in the hall below, i i p obareed in picking out their boots from the long rows laid out for cleaning, and putting them on. That done, they walked to a window near the front de and, unfastenins it, raised the latch, and went bay climbing over the sill. a in de name ob marey am dem young en up to§ a aes Romeo. ing the windoy cshey ey out m0 Es \ are ) “ihe ne te) y Ay i, ‘i a a ae . ae he Nei a Vi Ty lay sf ' ‘ + nae \ ¢ '* but it was summer-time, and there was no steh Aue Br st i as absolute darknessin the open air. With a clear sky . and the stars shining, one could get about with ease. a Romeo popped out of the window, just ten seconds — | after the two friends. | | Ee He saw they were hastening in the direction of the ae . ng small building at the end of the schoolhouse out- a See been to Romeo an abode 4 terrors. — ae He had heard of the chemical investigations ‘ail i ducted therein, and whatever of the terrible ne be lacking in the description given by the boys of the materials stored therein, the imagination | of Romeo supplied. | | | He firmly believed that some of the mee could, if properly used, divide the earth in twain, tae What did the pair want in that place so late? | i Was Morse about to impart to Gordon some of the 4 ij secrets of his discoveries P i : If so, why should not Romeo also become a q of them ? at He had often longed to get hold of some of Pe secrets of explosive manufacture, mainly for an Ka purpose of applying his knowledge to the discomfiture ph hi, of his father and grandfather. Here was an oppor-| eg ‘a Ne tunity that might never occur again. ses = Sh Morse had the key of the laboratory, and he pened” i it. The two friends passed in without taking the a trouble to shut the door. | Romeo crept up, with eyes well out of his head, | ue suggestive of those in the heads of boiled prawns, and 4 he got near enough to see and hear all that was dona) My and said in that abode of chemical mystery. ay aoe “We will take these three with us,” said Morse, oy picking out of a drawer three packages, one of them oe with a tail-like appendage to it. “This,” holding = A the smallest, about the size of a walnut, “T shall carom down asa warning. I will bring the beggars from x their lair. This,’ holding up another package about double the size of the former, “ will be dropped near ; enough to them to be dangerous ; and the third’—he _ hi ? handled it fondly, as a father does a pet child—“ this — i it, placed in the hollow of the ground will rend away a he portion of the cliff and send it toppling down. The — | action of the explosive, Jim, is downward,” “Tt is made of dynamite ?” said Jim. “Of an explosive of that nature,’ answered Morse. i pl: E “ One has to consider what is necessary inthe making ~ te of these things. Of course I had them ready. They 2 were made on spec. Now they will come into use, You take the two preliminaries, as I will call them. : will carry the third.” | he “Why the third more than the other two ?” asked Jim. ity " A “Because the slightest jar may inte about. an . explosion,” coolly Wtatraked Morse. rf ay se ty #\; , * » Ki ee AN i pt com € be OKS.€OmM F\ , 4 “ ’ as \ a a . oh 4 % * ra 4